1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable emergency lights, and more particularly, to a self-contained, water activated, hand-held strobe light and distress marker which may be used with various light filters to alert emergency rescue personnel in a combat or non-combat water environment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Strobe lights have been used for many years in order to make persons or objects more visually detectable. The strobing effect of the light, particularly at night, draws an observer's attention directly to the light. In nighttime emergency situations, this effect is very beneficial since persons in need of rescue often require prompt response from rescue personnel. Locating a person at night in the open sea is difficult, often because of the sheer size of the area that must be searched. The use of a strobe light enables emergency personnel to reach persons much more quickly since a bright, flashing strobe is very noticeable no matter what the conditions.
Portable strobe lights have been used by aviators for many years. Military aviators, often operating over large ocean expanses, have found the use of small strobe lights extremely effective in locating downed personnel. However, because the strobe light is visible in all directions, the use of such a light in a combat environment in enemy or hostile territory would also direct enemy forces to a downed aviator. Additionally, a bright flash might also be misinterpreted as a gun muzzle flash which could draw aircraft or ground fire. All of these disadvantages have indicated that there is a need for a small, lightweight, watertight, water activated, portable strobe light which may be used with one or more filters and which can be operated from a single, self-contained battery-operated source.
An example of an emergency strobe light is U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,050, (the '050 patent) the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The '050 patent was issued to Clark et al., and is assigned to the owner of this application. As can be seen by the disclosure, the device of the '050 patent has some of the features of the present invention, with the present invention being an improvement thereto.
The present invention provides a portable, water activated, hand-held emergency strobe light that can be used in both combat and non-combat water-born environments. If water activated in daylight, the strobe light will not turn on until darkness to conserve battery power. A special infrared (IR) strobe filter and circuit provides for daytime shut off of the strobe light. The light is powered by alkaline batteries with an energy saving circuit to extend the useable battery life.